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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22918009">5 Times The Mechanisms Showed Physical Affection, And One Time They Didn't</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fruitbattery/pseuds/fruitbattery'>fruitbattery</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Mechanisms (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Body Horror, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Trauma, Multi, Nightmares, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Cuddling, Trauma Buddies, seriously mind the violence tag</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:33:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>602</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22918009</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fruitbattery/pseuds/fruitbattery</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What it says on the tin, folks. Also, seriously, beware the tags.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ashes O'Reilly &amp; Jonny D'Ville</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>122</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>5 Times The Mechanisms Showed Physical Affection, And One Time They Didn't</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ashes O’Reilly is many things. They are, first and foremost, an arsonist; followed by a bass player and a singer. “Cool” can definitely be found pretty high up; “dapper,” “violent,” and “not a fucking snitch” not far behind. </p><p>“Sentimental” is pretty low on the list, but you can bet it’s still there.</p><p>Ashes, by their count, had been the second of the little band of pirates to be mechanized, after Jonny. Doc Carmilla still had plenty of days of breathing air left when she cracked open Ashes’s ribs with minimal topical anesthetic and inserted a working set of metal lungs. It’s funny– Ashes hears, once, that on Earth, people used to get put <i>in</i> something called an “iron lung” if they couldn’t breathe right. Ashes is rather glad that the metal is inside them and not the other way around, even if they do sometimes wake up screaming from nightmares about it. A particular favorite of their brain goes something like this: </p><p>They’ll find themself waking up choking on smoke, not able to get a breath in edgewise, when Carmilla appears and swears to save them. She reaches out her hands and tears their chest apart, cracks their sternum in two and lets the smoke out of their lungs with a clean cut  down the center of each, but the smoke just keeps coming and coming, and Ashes is screaming with no air to spare.</p><p>It’s at the height of one of these nightmares that Ashes wakes up to a dull weight hitting them in their very intact chest, startling them enough to cut off the real life scream they’d been producing. By now they know Jonny well enough to know when <i>he’s</i> had a nightmare, and the way he’s just flopped down on top of them and is still taking  calming breaths is indication enough. Ashes knows that asking what’s wrong will just get them a shot to the head, so they keep their mouth shut and just wrap their arms around Jonny’s torso and squeeze once. </p><p>Ashes feels Jonny shift towards his thigh holster and rolls their eyes, bracing for what’s coming, but  Jonny just unbuckles it and tosses it aside before wrapping himself around Ashes in turn. He settles down, curling up sort of half-on them, half on the bed, and sticks his face in their shoulder, and breathes slowly until he can pretend his breaths aren’t shaking with repressed sobs anymore. Ashes waits for him to start the conversation if he wants to, trying to calm their own racing mind by counting the cycles of warmth and cool that come with Jonny’s exhales and inhales. Finally, he picks his head up.</p><p>“Was it about her?”</p><p>Ashes doesn’t need to ask who he’s talking about. “Yeah. Normally it’s her ripping me open with her bare hands, tonight was no different.” </p><p>Jonny is quiet for a good few minutes. “Yeah. Mine are similar, except she just plunges her fuckin’ hand right in there. No cutting, no tearing, and then she has my heart, and then she puts in my new heart, and she tells me how worthless I am. ‘S real nice.”</p><p>The pair subside into a comfortable silence. Ashes’s thumb rubs circles on Jonny’s back until he sleeps, at least for a little while. They should try to sleep. When they don’t sleep, Jonny shoots them so they don’t see him leave, and shoots them again if they try and mention it, so sleep is the better option. He’ll be gone in the morning, and both of them will stand a little taller for a few days to come.</p>
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